Today I'd like to update you about the progress of the mod and our plans for the future.

First of all, for those coming to our mod for the first time, Sins of the Prophets is a Halo-themed total conversion of Sins of a Solar Empire, a 4X space-based RTS, that attempts to bring the Halo universe into an empire-building and fleet battle strategy game. By total conversion we mean everything. We have our own custom voice acting for units, custom ships from the Halo universe, and even a custom UI to fit the Halo motif. Take a look around and see if our baby interests you. (Press members can feel free to contact us personally for any questions and comments: Unikraken or Canadaman7)

Update to Rebellion...

For those that don't know, we've moved from Entrenchment over to Rebellion. We will support the DLC, but won't do anything with it at the time of this post. However, we made a commitment to release UNSC vs Covenant on Entrenchment and we will fulfil that commitment...eventually. We've previously said that upon moving to Rebellion we would update the mod's timeline from pre-Halo: CE to post Halo 3/4. We still intend on doing that, but our first release will be only the necessary changes to get it working on Rebellion (like diplomacy), along with balances and tweaks we've been making since the June release. Rebellion's graphical enhancements have made the mod extremely pretty.

Speaking of tweaks...

Sins of the Prophets gameplay has previously been described by some as a "dirty street brawl" or Pyrrhic Victory Simulator 2013. Battles usually lasted no more than 30 seconds and often lasted less than 10. The community had mixed feelings about this style of gameplay, but largely it seemed like the long lulls between fighting and the hyper-quick bursts of momentary action made the mod not as entertaining/rewarding as it could be. Thanks primarily to Dianno5741 and our playtester corps the mod has been overhauled, largely to great fanfare by those that have played it. Combat has transformed from street brawl to strategic warfare.

The speed of combat has been slowed down to a less frantic pace. However, newcomers to the mod will still find our battles to be much quicker than the base game's. Battles are usually over in a minute or two (can be longer depending on size of fleets and classes used), but now there is actually time for some micromanagement of units and possible retreats/maneuvering. You still feel like the primary weaponry being used is devastatingly powerful (MAC rounds vs Plasma torpedoes), similarly classed ships often cripple each other after the first blow. Though secondary and tertiary weapons do now play a larger role in deciding the fate of battles, because primary weapon cool downs are longer and thus more accurate to the official storyline (canon).

The UNSC rely heavily on outnumbering their foe and quickly replenishing lost units after battles, while fortifying new territory with SMACs and other defenses. The Covenant need to push through engagements and forward into taken ground to degrade the economic capability of their human foes in order to win. Expect some gameplay videos uploaded and possible livestreams to take place in the next month or so while we finish up work.

Future...

After the initial release there will be a series of updates where we include improved models and new units. The biggest of those including the UNSC Infinity and her escort frigates. We'll also be trading out the Mako corvette for the Stalwart-class frigate and eventually an updated ONI Prowler model inspired by the one shown in Halo 4's Spartan Ops series. Several Covenant ships and structures will be replaced over time as we get them modeled and textured.

After the release of the mod, if you record good gameplay, do a Let's Play series, or livestream playing the mod, feel free to message us with a link to it and we'll consider promoting it through our Facebook page and here, as long as you follow Microsoft's game content usage rules and do not try to monetize the videos and have quality content.

Feel free to join the groups below to keep up with us and interact with our growing fanbase!

So I've been following you guys for a while, and my love of this mod increases with every screen-cap. Can't wait for more. Sorry for the question (as my energy shield hasn't recharged) but will the Forerunner still be present as a playable race? I knew they were a LONG ways down the line but I was just curious.

I know the UNSC has far more offensive power than defensive power, but still a Halcyon class refit cruiser is over a Kilometer long, I can see it being crippled by a MAC round or Plasma torpedo but they were tough ships, so I was wondering if their could be some way to pull capital ships back before loosing them ... I also have a strong attachment to my capital ships, besides their really cool looking it should be a crime to blow them up.

Well, as stated above, we have modified the gameplay from the last public version. It's slower, damage values are a little different now. Capitals are a little more frequent now too. It's possible to pull some ships back out of a bad fight.

Ok Infinity and her escorts were mentioned and I have to ask, if Infinity carried the Strident Frigates (I assume those are the escorts mentioned) then is that going to play a part in the game, or will they have to be built normally?

the Drakh Class is the biggest ship in the covenant Arsena, mainly used to carry around supplies for the Covenant, and i know that the Composer is an artifact but it has the abilities of a Ship so why not, you saw in halo 4 how it fought the home fleet, destroying Charon Class Heavy Frigates

OK...
1: you're reading that chart wrong. That is not saying what you think it is... The Drakh class is "not shown".
2: the ship you're looking at is a fanon rendition of the CSO class supercarrier. Which we've stated will never be in the mod.
3: you're posting new comments instead of responding to previous ones, implying a new train of thought when there is none. Thus, that also is wrong.

We have a lot of suggestions flowing in - if you want to help I suggest you join in on the discussion on the forums where you can see our thoughts and everything more up, and basically be more helpful ;)

I know how OP they are. That's why it's so fun. Way more fun if they were against the flood... imagine tons of spore ships charging from three directions. Hard light weapons blinking left to right. explosions. the mayhem